


Blood Is A Special Substance

by alienharry



Series: 5 Weeks of Shiall [4]
Category: One Direction (Band), Shawn Mendes (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Halloween, Haunted House, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 07:13:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16403750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alienharry/pseuds/alienharry
Summary: “How about this: Paul's kids come in the night before we open to test the place out. What if we have them vote for the scariest room. Winner doesn’t have to stick around for clean up duty in November.”It’s not the worst deal. Niall hates clean up duty, and being able to skip out on it while also having bragging rights over Louis sounds like a Christmas gift come early.“You're on, mate.”-Niall’s first year as a manager atHiggin’s Haunted Houseshould be everything spooky he’s ever dreamed of. It’s just unfortunate he got stuck training the least scary person he’s ever met in his entire life.





	Blood Is A Special Substance

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from _Swamp_ by Talking Heads

“Who’s ready to be haunted?” 

Niall lets out a cheer alongside the other six team leaders in the room. It’s his fifth year as an employee at  _ Higgin’s Haunted House _ and his first year as a team leader. It’s exciting, especially since he’s going into it with Louis, someone he’s had a bit of a friendly rivalry with since his first day, both of them wanting to be scarier than the other. 

Obviously it doesn’t work like that, and that the degree to which a person is scary is relative to what they’re doing and who they’re doing it to, but it’s still been fun competing. 

“Niall,” Paul, the owner and supervisor of the haunted house calls his name, and he snaps out of his thoughts. They’re at the annual team leader meeting, something he’s never been to before, and is so far just as thrilling as he’d thought it’d be. “We’re giving you the prison cell room. Think you can handle it?” 

“ _ Wicked _ ,” he breathes out, and everyone in the room chuckles a bit. “Yeah, mate.”

Paul grins and writes something down on his clipboard before moving on. “We’ve got Louis in the clown room, Jade can man the illusion room, and Leigh-Anne, you'll be outside scaring the people in line.”

The meeting continues, Paul assigning rooms and duties and handing out their schedules, for another five minutes. It’s quick, nobody having much time today as they’re technically not on the clock. The season doesn’t start for another week, but they have to meet before then to get assignments, and this was the only day everybody could make themselves available. 

When they’re dismissed, each team leader with a clipboard and a pack of forms, Louis nudges Niall in the shoulder with a crooked grin. “First year as a team leaders, mate. How do you feel?”

“Like I'm going to have the scariest room by far,” Niall says, feeling himself smile sharply. This is _ his _ year. 

“Don't get so cocky, Niall,” Louis laughs cruelly, nudging his shoulder again. “You've been here not even a day and the powers already getting to your head, innit?” 

The rest of the crew have already cleared out, but Niall plans on staying until Louis concedes and agrees that Niall’s going to have everyone running out screaming. “Why shouldn't it? There's only so much you can do with  _ clowns _ .” 

“The prison cell is the  _ worst _ room,” Louis insists. His clipboard is moving about as he waves his hands dramatically. “They gave it to you because it's damn near impossible to fuck up the most boring room in the house.”

“Mate, I bet my room will have more people running out than yours.” 

“You sure you wanna do that?” Louis asks. His eyes narrow and Niall can already see the gears spinning in his head. “It's your first room and you want to make a bet with  _ me _ ?”

Holding back a comment about how it’s Louis’ first room too, Niall nods. “Absolutely.” 

“I'm not about to say no to an automatic win.” He holds his arms out and laughs. “Go on then, what are you thinking?”

“Money.” 

“I don’t care how confident I am, I'm working this job to  _ make _ money not lose it.” They both stand silently, thinking of what to bet, but Louis doesn’t have anything Niall wants. An undeserved sense of superiority, maybe, but they can’t exactly bet that. “How about this: Paul's kids come in the night before we open to test the place out. What if we have them vote for the scariest room. Winner doesn’t have to stick around for clean up duty in November.” 

It’s not the worst deal. Niall hates clean up duty, and being able to skip out on it while also having bragging rights over Louis sounds like a Christmas gift come early. 

“You're on, mate.” Niall sticks his hand out and Louis reaches out to shake it. “Have fun cleaning up my mess.” 

“I’ve never lifted a finger in my life, and I don't plan to start now.” 

Niall’s suddenly ecstatic for this season to begin, and he’s not even met his crew yet. This may just be the best Autumn yet. 

❡

When the first day of the season hits, Niall’s more than a little nervous. He has faith in himself as a leader, knowing that his years of experience as a cast member couldn’t do anything less than help him run a spectacular room. The only thing he can do is hope his team has the skills to win him this bet. 

It’s about more than just having to clean up the haunted house at the end of two months - which isn’t just taking down decorations - it’s about his  _ pride _ . It’s to prove he’s more than just just a new team leader, that he’s capable of scaring with the rest of them. That he’s capable of pulling off something terrifying. 

When he meets his team, they look precisely how Niall thinks he looked on his first day joining the crew five years ago, full of excitement and little stupid. 

“Alright, I'm Niall, and I'm looking to have the scariest room this year,” he introduces himself. They’re all staring at him with wide, eager eyes. “I'm going to ask each of you your name, and what you think your role should be. Let’s start with you.”

He approaches a young blonde girl. She’s practically vibrating where she stands. “Well, I’m Perrie,” she says, one hand resting on her hip and the other moving as she talks. “If this were a Marvel movie, my superpower would be screaming.”

“That's not really - ”

Before Niall can finish his sentence, Perrie drops her jaw and starts  _ wailing. _ The sound comes out sharp and gut-wrenching. The shock of it has Niall dropping his clipboard on the ground - she sounds like she’s truly in pain,  _ agonizing _ in the most heartbreaking way. 

Niall’s immediately inspired. 

When she finally finishes after letting the scream last for an impressive amount of time, Niall hears Jade’s distant, “What the  _ fuck _ ?” Perrie grins an incredibly sweet smile.

“Jesus, alright then.” Niall lets himself chuckle as he picks his clipboard up and fills out his idea for Perrie’s character. He writes ‘ _white_ _gown_ ’ next to her outfit, and narrates, “We'll probably put some mirrors around you so it looks like you're not there. Then when you scream we'll move them a bit so you appear.” 

“Like I just appear out of nowhere?” Perrie asks. 

“Exactly.” 

She starts humming and Niall looks up to see her eyes sparkling. “I love that.” 

Once his clipboard is all filled out for Perrie and he’s started sketching a room layout on the paper, he moves on. 

There’s a man who introduces himself as Harry, he’s got kind eyes and  _ dimples _ . A recipe for disaster if he can’t turn his charm off and do something scary. “What can you do mate?” 

Instead of answering, Harry looks around before going to the plastic chair in the corner. He sits in the chair, and the smile drops, his face turning serious serious. The way worry lines appear out of nowhere and his eyes take a darker edge is almost creepy. 

“Is that it?” 

Niall starts to walk towards him wanting to get his idea on a costume, but Harry slowly stands. He’s tall so he looms, and it’s alarming enough to make Niall back up. Harry sits back down. There’s a piece of Niall that doesn’t want to walk towards Harry. He knows nothing will happen, but he still doesn’t want to risk it. 

It’s absolutely chilling. 

“I love it.” He laughs start writing down on his clipboard. He has an idea of how he wants the room to look already, starting with Harry at the entrance to the place, starting out with what might just be the scariest part. “We’ll have you near the entrance. Just spook them as they’re coming.”

The intimidation falls off of Harry’s face and his smile is back. It’s alarming how quickly he can switch between the two characters, and for somebody who seems so approachable, it’s a bit scary. 

Down the line, Niall approaches another girl. “Name?” 

“Jesy Nelson.” 

Niall writes he name down in an empty space, taking note of the gothic edge Jesy has to her. From her redish hair to her spiked books, she dressed the part. She looks entirely too excited about scaring people, and Niall’s excited for it. “What can you do?”

“I know what I’m doing,” she says ominously. “I’ll put on a show.” 

“I need to see it now so I can figure out how we'll set the room up.” The paper has chicken scratch notes of ideas, but he’s still not one-hundred percent certain on how he wants to layout the room. 

Jesy rolls her eyes and leans in close. Her voice drops to a whisper. “I like to get in peoples heads.” The sound of her voice has a slight shiver run down Niall’s back. “The only reason they come here is to feel something - the fright - to know that the scariest thing they've seen isn’t the inside of their own head.” 

Though the voice is exactly what they need, the words leave something to be desired. “It's not terrible. Your voice is good for that but the words are bit cliche.” Jesy frowns at his words, but Niall starts writing on his sheet again. “If we have you whisper as they’re opening the cell door it’ll set them up for Harry looming.” 

“Cell door?” 

“I was thinking of having a locked door with a key in it,” he tells her, mouth running as he shades curtains around his drawing of the cell door. “They have to open it themselves.”

“And I'd be whispering?” 

Niall nods. “Yeah.” He turns his clipboard around and points to where Jesy would be hiding. “It’ll give just a slight anticipation to them which will make them react better to Harry.” 

“I like it.” She sounds alright with the idea, but there’s not a complete excitement like there was with Perrie and Harry. “I think I could be used in a better capacity, but you’re the boss man.” 

“Cool.” 

He doesn’t have time to argue the merits of his expertise in what’s scary. He’s been here for five years, and he knows what he’s doing. Defending himself would be a waste of time - he still has to bring his design to the set builders and claim his props from the main office today. 

He bites his tongue against arguing why he’s right, figuring that Jesy isn’t going to try and fight him on it anyway, and finishes filling out her character on the clipboard. He turns to the last person and his stomach drops. 

There, looking at him with all the unbridled excitement in the world, is just about the least scary person Niall thinks he’s ever seen in his entire life.

“Hey, man.” He sticks his hand out for Niall to shake, a tilted smile on his face. “I’m Shawn.” 

“Right.” Niall’s instantly put off. Shawn has everything that a haunted house employee doesn’t want. He’s ridiculously attractive, and Niall’s sure he’d be great to model or something, but he has a bet to win, and this guy doesn’t look like he’ll be helping. He looks like he'd be designated driver at a party he wasn’t invited to. “How can we utilize you?”

He shrugs, the happiness never leaving his face. “I can do anything.”

“Alright easiest role then.” If Shawn can do anything, then hopefully he can be angry. That’s all they really need in the prison room. “Can you be an angry prisoner? You'd just stand behind the cell door and hit the walls. Scream a little. Tell them to let you out. Or to  _ run.”  _

“Sure.” 

Everybody’s watching, but he doesn’t make a move to try. Niall sighs. “Well I have to see it.” 

Shawn’s face slowly begins to turn red. “Right, of course.” 

There aren’t any bars to stand behind, no dark lighting to help set the scene, and Shawn looks overly aware of where he is and what he’s doing. He’s quiet one moment, and the next he’s yelling. It’s unintelligible for the most part, and for a moment it sounds like a kermit impression with the odd way he speaks from his throat. 

There’s no other way to put it than it’s absolutely horrid. He’s so unthreatening that it hurts, Niall can feel his chances of winning actually drop. He’s just bad at it. He  _ looks _ great, a little silly, but great nonetheless, and it’s just not translating well into being scary. 

Next to Niall, Jessy starts laughing, but Niall waves her off. He doesn’t want to hurt Shawn or humiliate him, but he needs to find something for him to try - something that doesn’t make him look like an actor in a bad movie. 

He lists all of his favorite character tropes that he’s seen in his years, the ones that really have people screaming, but somehow, each one is worse than the last. 

After they’ve been at it for far too long, cutting into Niall’s time to grab supplies to set up their room, he sets his clipboard down and runs his hands through his hair. It’s hopeless. “Are you available tomorrow morning? We’re going to have to do some extra training.” 

Red starts to climb up Shawn’s neck at Niall’s exhausted tone. “I’ll be there.”

❡

Early the next morning, Niall drags himself out of bed to head into the props and costume department to pick up everything he’d placed his order for last night. It takes two trips in his car to bring everything across town, but he has to believe it’s going to be worth it - especially with Shawn willing to come in early to find his place. 

It’s long after Niall’s set out all the props and other possible scaring devices out that Shawn arrives. When he wanders in, Niall’s struck again because this guy is so  _ attractive _ but he’s far too pleasant to ever scare anybody. He looks like he’d offer to make his own food at a restaurant. 

“Hello,” he greets. The smile slowly slips off his face as he takes in everything lying out before him. “Is this for me?”

“Yeah.” Niall chuckles a bit as he stands, but it’s empty, no real humor behind it. They’ve a  _ lot _ of work to do. “I pulled it out from the costuming department.”

Shawn looks around, his eyebrow quirked. “Is this place that big?”

“No, mate,” Niall laughs a bit, “These are kept at the main office across town.” 

“Oh, you didn’t have to go to all this effort.” His eyebrows furrow inwards, and he’s left looking upset in a way that’s upsetting Niall. 

“We’re going to be the scariest room in the house, alright?” Cleaning up the haunted house is hard work, but Niall will be damned if he has to pack up  _ Louis _ ’ room as well. This is a completely selfish thing he’s doing. “I don’t care if we have to hang you from your feet like a human chandelier, we’re making you scary.”

Shawn gulps, and again, Niall can’t believe he’s actually here. He should be selling tickets, and consoling crying children with his beautiful face, not trying to scare them. 

“Alright,” he steps aside, giving Shawn the full view of each prop. “So just pick something, and we’ll give it a try.” His character isn’t scary enough to go on his own. 

After a few moments of silent contemplation, Shawn walks towards the bigger props in the back. Niall doesn’t say it, but the choice is very telling. By choosing a bigger prop, it’s showing that he doesn’t have much confidence in his own ability to scare. 

It doesn’t look good for Niall. 

“What’s this?”

Perhaps one of the biggest props they have, and Shawn’s gone and singled it out. Niall thins his lips. “It’s a fog mirror. There’s smoke that fogs it so the guests can’t see you, and then you write stuff on it. It looks like it’s appearing out of nowhere.” 

“That’s cool!” Shawn’s smile is full of charm, and Niall can feel himself slipping out of his professional headspace. “I choose this.” 

“Well, no,” he says, shaking his head. “You have to see if you can write backwards first. I don’t think I can trust you to just run with something at this point.” A path of red climbs up Shawn’s neck and Niall wants to feel bad but at this point he’s valid as shit to be questioning Shawn’s ability to do something. 

After teaching him how to turn the machine on and how to work the prop, Niall has Shawn trying writing his name backwards and then an ominous message, ‘Help Me.’ At the start, it looks alright - the letters just a little wonky - but after the first three letters of his name, it becomes near illegible. Niall’s certain if he hadn’t told Shawn precisely what to write, he’d be unable to decipher the code sitting in front of him. 

When the message is completely and horribly sloppy, Shawn runs out from behind the mirror, a hurried excitement in his step. The smile that falls off his face when he discovers just how terribly it looks makes Niall’s heart clench. He wants to be on Shawn’s side, wants to give him a million tasks to do, but he’s just so…  _ bad _ . 

“I have really nice handwriting,” Shawn defends himself. His eyes are wide, a complete picture of disappointment. “I don’t know what happened.” Niall wants to cry. He can feel himself losing the bet, and it aches. “Okay,” Shawn claps his hands together and moves towards the middle of the props where a few power tools are resting. “The chainsaw. That’s easy. There’s no blade, right?”

“No, but there’s flint on where the blades should be,” Niall says, trying to describe the machine quickly as Shawn picks it up. “So if you rub it on the ground - ” He doesn’t get to finish his explanation before Shawn’s starting it up. 

The very moment the chainsaw comes to life, a loud groan echoing in the empty room as the entire thing begins to shake, Shawn is startled and drops it. It’d be easy to pick it up and turn it off, crossing it off the list as a possibility, but once the flint on the blades comes in contact with the cement of the floor, sparks are flying  _ everywhere _ . 

Bright orange nearly covers the room, and Niall can’t help but  _ cackle _ as Shawn tries to reach for the chainsaw. Everytime he gets close to the handle, his own fear gets in the way, and he’s pulling it back into himself with a terrified grimace. Niall’s body hurts from how hard he’s laughing. 

When the flint has nearly died down, Shawn finally managed to get ahold of the handle, switching the chainsaw off. His chest is heaving, and he’s white as a ghost, looking properly spooked. “That was horrifying!”

“You should’ve seen your face!” Halfway through Niall’s sentence, the words begin to fade out with his laughter. It takes a bit for him to calm down, only managing to do so when he sees the pout on Shawn’s lips as he examines other props. He’s so out of place, is the thing, and Niall’s at a loss of what to do with him. “Why are you here?”

“You said - ”

“Not that.” He shakes his head, waving Shawn’s protest off. “Why did you apply to work here? And how did you get hired?” 

Shawn shrugs, almost looking casual if it weren’t for the slight red tint to his cheeks. “I needed a seasonal job, just something to save up for christmas.”

“Right. But how did you get here?”

“I just walked in,” he says, “and they told me I was hired?"

It doesn’t do much to answer his question, so he keeps going, completely aware of how interrogative this seems. “Who interviewed you?”

“I think her name was Hailee or something.” Shawn begins to blush and Niall figures he’s put together where their going with this questioning. 

“Jesus.” Hailee’s always had a soft spot for pretty boys. Niall does too, but he doesn’t let it come in the way of his work. “Yeah, that makes sense. Look, mate. You’re too innocent for this stuff.” 

Taking his words as a dismissal, Shawn’s eyes widen and he looks a moment away from falling on his knees with his hands held in front of him in a plea. “Niall, please,” he begs. “I really need this job. Just give me another chance.” 

“I can try,” Niall tells hims. He’d never intended to make it seem like he was giving up, just to tell Shawn this is going to be a lot of hard work that he’s too kind-looking for. “but you’re too cute to be scary.” At the word cute, Shawn’s eyebrow quirks and Niall has to roll his eyes at the question not being asked with it. “Not - ” He doesn’t know what to say, how to move the subject past when his mind is stuck on the look of interest Shawn gave him at being called cute. “Here, why don’t you try Harry’s trick?”

It was a transparent way of moving past, but Shawn moves on quickly, working to find a chair. 

Throughout the rest of the morning, Niall has him try everyone else’s characters - just to see if he can join them - but he fails every round. He looks so pathetic with every failure that the mood starts to feel too somber - even for a haunted prison cell. 

When the team shows up to continue decorating their room, Niall tells Shawn he’ll brainstorm overnight, and they all get to decorate. Niall  _ will _ brainstorm, but it’s starting to look absolutely hopeless. 

❡

They finish decorating the room two days early, meaning that after everybody gets their character information into the costuming and makeup departments, Niall’s team get a well deserved paid vacation before their test run. 

Well, everybody except for Niall and Shawn. They’ve had more than enough meetings that Niall’s almost positive Shawn couldn’t scare a baby. He still has some semblance of hope that Shawn will pull something frightening out, but it’s disappearing. And fast. 

It’s clear that Shawn’s beginning to panic as well. 

After dismissing everybody for their short break, Shawn approaches Niall, his eyes wild and mouth tense. Niall briefly thinks it’s a shame to see such a beautiful face so worried, but then he remembers the reasoning behind the worry, and starts to stress out as well. 

“Am I going to get fired?” Shawn asks, his hands fisted at his sides.Despite nobody else being in the room, he’s whispering, and Niall can feel his nerves at a distance. 

“I - ” He cuts himself off, not wanting to give Shawn false hope. “Look, I promise they won’t fire you, but it’s getting to be impossible finding a way for you to be scary.”

Shawn frowns, and Niall wants to smooth the lines that form between his brows. “Couldn’t I just sell tickets, or help with Perrie’s mirrors?” 

“That’s for the crew, and you were hired as cast.”

“Well I don’t know how I’m supposed to be scary.” He throws his arms up, voice coming out a bit hysterical. “I’m trying my hardest.”

That’s what’s sad, Niall thinks. They haven’t been half-arsing it. Everything they’ve done has been with determination and effort. “I know, I know.” 

“Can you show me yours?”

Niall shakes his head quickly, refusing to even consider it. “You guys don’t get to see my character until opening day.”

“Well can you show me how to be intimidating?” And the thing is, Shawn sounds so serious about it, wanting nothing more than for Niall to show him how he can get intimidating. And Niall doesn’t want to say no, doesn’t want to keep being negative about everything. 

So in the middle of the day, in the brightened prison cell room, Niall sighs and gets to work. 

He pulls Shawn towards the entrance of the room and steps behind him. The lights in the hall are off next to them, but the prison room is well lit. For now. 

He finds himself speaking quietly, right behind Shawn, Niall’s mouth level with his neck. “First, you stop thinking.” Shawn nods as Niall speaks, and Niall can already see red climbing up the back of his neck. “There’s nothing scary about about a frenzied mind.” His breath is hitting Shawn’s skin and goosebumps are forming. He continues, “Then, you take away their senses.” 

Niall reaches over and flips the switch, and all of the lights in the room turn off. It’d be a bit darker, but not all of the curtains are set up in the room after theirs, and a bit of light is visible towards the exit. 

“And then you…” He trails off, waiting. In the dim light, he can see Shawn tensing up, his hands fisting together at his sides and he stares straight ahead. Moments pass, and when Niall’s counted to thirty-five in his head, he leans in and finishes, “Wait.” 

And the sudden word, whispered right next to his ear, Shawn stumbles forward. Niall reaches out to catch him, his own heart beating fast for some reason. 

Shawn doesn’t say anything, just stands, his arm sitting weightlessly in Niall’s grip as he stares. Eventually it’s Niall that speaks up. “Right.” He pulls his hand away from where it was holding Shawn. “I’ll just tell them we need another day.”  

“Another day is good,” Shawn nods, suddenly avoiding eye contact. “Same time tomorrow?” 

“Sure - ”  

Shawn walks out quickly, not even letting Niall finish speaking. It’s for the best, Niall decides on. Distractions are the last thing they need so close to the test run. He has a bet to win, dammit, and no pretty blushing boys will pull that thought from his mind. 

❡

Instead of wasting his morning panicking, trying to come up with  _ anything _ to help Shawn be a little less pathetically attractive and a little more frightening, Niall decides to be productive. He calls the costume designer down to the room to make sure she has the proper shade of black for the curtains so Jesy’s outfit will blend into them seamlessly. 

It’s useless, he knows, because even if Jesy’s clothing is a bit darker or later, the darkness of the room will hide her perfectly. It’s only a tactic for Niall to postpone having to face the reality that Shawn’s never going to be scary. 

The door opens, and for a moment Niall panics, thinking it’s Shawn, but it’s somehow worse - Louis strides in, tossing a red clown nose in the air and catching it, a mock effort to look cool, if Niall honest. “Nialler!” He looks around the room, his lips upticking into a grin. “How’s everything going?” 

“It’s great, Tommo,” Niall says. He’s smiling, but it’s forced, and it’s easy to tell. He’s too frustrated to deal with this. “What can I help you with?” 

“Just checking out the scenery, seeing if your prison is any match for my hall of clowns.” Louis continues to look around, face unimpressed, but Niall just hums. He’s much more important things to worry about than Louis’ little show. “It isn’t, by the way.” 

“Cool. Thanks.”

Louis must be able to sense the tone, can see the tension in Niall’s body. “I’ll see you tomorrow, lad. Can’t wait to watch you clean up my room.” He throws a clown nose at Niall and leaves. 

At this point, Niall feels anger in a way he can’t explain, absolutely livid that Louis had to come in here and stress him out again. It’s not only Louis though, it’s Shawn. He  _ needs _ to be better, scary. 

When Shawn trails in ten minutes later, Niall’s feeling the pressure, and takes it out by throwing the clown nose at him, hitting Shawn square in the chest. As it falls to the ground, Shawn watches it with a raised brow. “What was that for?”

He’s pouting, and it’s so goddamn attractive that Niall wants to strangle him. He looks like he’d offer his seat up his seat on the bus, even if there were empty ones around him, and for some reason, it really does something for Niall. 

“Stop being adorable,” he nearly yells. Shawn bites his lip, and Niall tries not to get distracted. “You have to be  _ scary _ .” 

Shawn contemplates his words for a little and Niall prays for magic. “I think I’m going to quit.” It’s definitely not what Niall wanted to hear. 

“No you can’t do  _ that _ !” 

“It’s your only option at this point,” Shawn persists. He looks adamant on his decision, but it’s not the right thing to do. “The run through is tomorrow, and I’m not scary.” 

As easy as it would be to let Shawn quit, to keep the room as it is and let Shawn walk, Niall knows there’s something missing, something that can up the fright factor of their prison cell. Call it wishful thinking or temporary insanity, but he really believes Shawn can help them out. 

And he’ll be damned if he wasted all this time trying to help the lad, just to have him quit. 

“No, you aren’t,” Niall agrees, “but I’m not letting you quit, mate.”

“It’s the only thing we can do!” 

Niall wants to protest. He likes having Shawn around and he thinks they’d have such a good time working together, and… Alright, maybe he thinks he’s cute, but he also doesn’t want to give up when they spent so much time working on this. They’ve got to be close by now, there has to be  _ something _ for him. 

“I’m the kinda guy that  _ gets _ scared,” Shawn says. “I don’t do the scaring.” Niall nods because even though he wants to give Shawn a role, he can’t disagree with it. “Think they’d pay me to go through it instead of work it?” 

Niall chuckles at first, but then the words sink in and an idea hits, lighting his eyes up. “Shawn, you absolute genius.” He grips the lad by his shoulders and shakes them with a laugh. “I have a brilliant idea. But first we need some wood, some paint, and some help from the crew.” 

“What is it?” As Niall explains everything he’s thinking, Shawn’s eyes get a light to them, the self-pity from earlier draining away completely. “That’s amazing! Do you think it will scare them?” 

“I don’t think  _ you’ll _ scare them,” Niall says honestly without hesitation. He looks Shawn over, knowing for sure by now that there’s nothing remotely frightening about him. “You’re too cute.” 

It’s not the first time Niall’s told Shawn he’s attractive - not even the first time  _ today _ \- but it’s the first time Shawn reacts. He grabs Niall by his cheeks and kisses him square on the mouth. Niall doesn’t react right away, and when Shawn pulls back, they’re both a bit speechless. 

“That was - ”

“Sorry!” Shawn looks panicked, red quickly flooding into his face as he tries to apologize. “I just thought - ”

“No, you’re okay.” Niall’s laughing slightly, still shocked by the turn of events. He’s definitely not mad that it happened, and he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t wanted to kiss Shawn since he first saw his ridiculously disarming smile, but right now they’ve things to do. “That was more than okay. I just - Let’s work on this before… before  _ this.”  _ Niall gestures between the two of them, and Shawn nods. 

“I just…  _ thank _ you.” 

Niall’s not sure why Shawn’s thanking him, or why his breathlessness and wide eyes are so damn attractive, but it’s all too distracting. “Right,” he nods. “Of course.” 

He turns and makes his way out of the room. They need to pick up some supplies and get the crew to help with some last minute set changes. This may actually work if they don’t kiss anymore. 

At least until the test run is over. After that, Niall’s got some ideas. 

❡

The day of the test runs arrives, and Niall’s feeling optimistic. It’s the most hopeful he’s felt about the whole thing since the moment he saw Shawn’s beautifully eager face a few weeks ago. There’s not a doubt in his mind they’ve got the best room in the house. 

Niall shows up a bit early to the house. So early, in fact, that all of the lights are still on. Jade’s room has some last minute decorating going on that he can see, but Niall and Shawn stayed the entire night prior finishing every minute detail. As exhausting as the work was, it was completely worth it, seeing as they’ve got a beautifully finished room. 

And if they spent the entire time getting to know each other, Niall doesn’t see that as a downside. 

Going through every decoration, Niall double checks that everything is in its place and ready to go. If the only thing that stops him from winning his bet is a loose bolt in the jail cell or a misplaced mirror, there will be hell to pay. 

Slowly, the team comes in the room .They’re dressed up and they’ve got their makeup and hair perfectly done. Everything’s coming together wonderfully. 

All of them notice the slight changes to the room that’ve been done, but Niall doesn’t give them much further of an explanation then he had an idea. He wants Shawn to be there with the explanation, wants the full effect to be experienced. 

When Shawn  _ does _ arrive, he’s dressed in his street clothes, looking like he does every day of his life - flawless and all-consuming. The rest of their crew takes a look at him and starts yelling, but Shawn only smiles. “I promise, I’m doing my job.”

“He’s got an important task for what we’re going to do,” Niall tells the group. He’s glad Shawn was the last to show up, so they can get right into their gameplan. 

From where she’s examining her mirrored cell, Perrie walks over to where Niall and Shawn are standing. “Well what’s that?” She asks, a slight pinch to her browline. “Why weren’t we told?”

“Because I needed you all here.” Niall waves the others over and leans in close. “We’re going to move you around a bit, and Harry, you’ve got the best part.”

He gets down to explaining their plan to everyone - from the very moment Jesy gives them chills with her whispers until Harry’s terrifying them with a bit of yelling. As he progresses, detailing every single person’s role, he can see everyone getting excited - Shawn especially. 

Harry suggests that they do their own run through for practice, and they end up doing six, each time better than the last. With each test, Jesy’s whisper gets a little more chilling, and Perrie’s scream more agonizing. Harry starts making  _ Niall _ jump, and Shawn… well, Shawn does his job. At this point, the fact that he even has something to do is a impressive of itself, but the fact that he his role fits into the theme, is a goddamn miracle. 

Paul’s family arrives right on time, if not a bit early, and the entire house goes quiet - even the usual chatter heard from the Human Doll room has been replaced by an eerie silence. 

The prison cell room takes their places and the tour begins. As the family makes their way through the house, Niall listens closely. He can hear as the get closer, and their reactions are great, but not scared enough to make Niall worry. 

They’ve got this. 

After they finish in Jade’s illusion room, they’re at the entrance for the jail cell. From where Niall’s hiding in the darkness, he can see their slight hesitation in reaching for the key. When somebody makes an effort to, Jesy begins her sinister whispers, and everybody jumps. 

As the turn to face the blackness, looking for the source of the voice, Shawn slips out from behind the curtain and joins the group on their other side. It’s seamless, and despite being so tall, Shawn goes completely unnoticed. 

Jesy continues her whispers, and one of the girls in the group reaches for the key again, a shaking hand turning it and pushing the cell door open. Everybody rushes in, Shawn at the end of the pack to go further undetected, and they begin to make their way through. They don’t get too far before Niall’s  _ slamming _ the cell door shut. The group turns to see Jesy and Niall, each on a different side of the door. Jesy twists the key, locking them in, and Niall smiles. He’s dressed as the warden, but the makeup department made it appear as though there’s a chunk of his head missing, exposing his skull. Blood capsules just add to the gore of it. 

Though Niall’s smile at them is supposed to be malicious, a chilling, terrifying thing, he knows his eyes go a bit soft when they meet Shawn’s. 

Nevertheless, seeing two people where there weren’t any before spooks the group enough that they’re rushing forward again. 

They pass Perrie’s cell, and the door is open, but it appears to be completely empty. A boy from the group takes a step to go inside, and suddenly Perrie’s shriek is ringing out, and a mirror is turning quickly, exposing where she’s hidden. With the flickering lights, it looks like she’s appeared out of thin air, and every person in the room jumps, with three of them screaming. 

Instead of running from the room, like they though they’d get to, they see Harry sitting by the exit, a twisted look on his face as he glares at them. With every step they take to approach, Harry adjusts his position, sometimes standing, sometimes not getting that far. Harry is, by far, the best part of their room. Every person they have is talented - some far less than others - but Harry has something about him that chills people to their core. 

It takes a little over four minutes - if Niall’s counting is accurate - for the group to get past Harry, and even when they do, the youngest of their group looks close to tears. Were Niall a more sympathetic person, he’d feel bad, but the unbridled terror on the child’s face is the best thing Niall thinks he’s ever seen. 

At the end of the hall there’s a door that says “Do  _ NOT  _ Enter. ” It’s exactly how the group gets out of the room, and being test subjects for the past however many years, they catch on quickly. 

But the room isn’t done yet, and it’s Shawn’s turn to do what he was meant to do. He protests, saying they should take the stairs out - the crooked, rickety, clearly leading-to-nowhere stairs. Nobody notices that he isn’t in their group, nobody says a thing, and Shawn runs up the stairs. 

The group watches, and just as they’re about to follow him up, a silver piece of wood, painted to resemble the blade of a guillotine, slams. An artificial sound of a knife sharpening echoes, and the group slightly gasps. 

That’s where Niall’s plan ends. He’d wanted to give them a fright, but Shawn, despite looking like he’d pay a tab at the bar that wasn’t is, all because someone complimented him, is actually hiding some useful ideas in his head. He suggested that Harry send them out, wishing they’d never stepped foot in the room. 

Behind where they stand, jaws slightly dropped, Harry’s suddenly banging on the metal gate with his fists,  _ yelling _ . It’s angry, its hateful, and best of all, it’s terrifying. The group screams and runs out of the, now open, door they were originally planning on leaving through.

As soon as they make it to the next room and the door shuts behind them, Shawn runs out from his hiding place. Normally he’d be going back to the romo’s entrance through a back hallway, but this is just a test run, and there are honest to God  _ giggles _ falling from his mouth. Perrie joins him, and Niall lets Jesy in the room so they can all celebrate a room well run together. 

“That was awesome!” 

“When Harry started screaming, babe,” Perrie’s pale face is lit in joy as she relives what they saw. “You should’ve seen their faces.”

“I could hear it out there and nearly jumped out me skin,” Jesy adds. 

They did everything they were supposed to, and Niall feels the best he ever has about their room. At the start of the night, he had high hopes, but the reaction surpassed his expectations in the best of ways. 

“That was scary, right?” For a moment it seems as though Shawn’s asking the group, but his eyes are set on Niall, wide and eager. “Tell me that was scary.”

“ _ Harry _ was scary,” Niall says honestly. “You were believable.”

“I was great.”

Niall can’t help but to laugh at the confidence and excitement in Shawn’s voice. He wasn’t scary, no, but he did an excellent job, and completely separate from this  _ thing _ they have between them, Niall’s proud.  

“Hey, can I get out now?” Harry’s voice rings, and Niall starts laughing even harder that they forgot to let him out. Niall undoes the stability lock on his cage, and upon exiting, Harry walks over and high-fives Shawn. “Nice work, mate.” 

It’s wonderful seeing Shawn get the credit he deserves for planning a killer ending, and Niall can’t wait to do this for the weeks to come, to scare the general public and feel a sense of camaraderie doing it. 

It’s about ten minutes later, after they’ve stopped jumping in excitement and have started planning how they’re going to celebrate afterwards, that Louis comes into the room, walking through the “Do  _ NOT  _ Enter ” door. There’s a mischievous smile and a ton of makeup on his face, but Niall isn’t bothered. “C’mon lad. It’s time to vote.”

“I think you should be worried, Lou,” Niall’s teasing as he walks towards the exit. He’s a bit cocky now, unable to be modest after such a killer test run. “We’ve got ourselves a secret weapon.” 

“I don’t think so. The youngest one about pissed himself in our room.” Louis waves him off and turns to walk away.

Niall rolls his eyes but begins to leave as well. He’s stopped by Harry’s curious, “Wait, what vote?”

“I made a bet that we’d be the scariest room,” he tells them honestly. “Let’s hope you all pulled through, eh?” He leaves the room, feeling confident as ever, proud of his team, ready to hear of his victory. 

❡

Two months later, after the haunted house closes for the season, Niall finds himself in the clown room with Shawn, taking down decorations and packing them up. 

This year was probably the best that Niall’s ever had at  _ Higgin’s _ , but it’s still unfortunate that they lost to Louis. In the past eight weeks, there have been whispers of Louis cheating and bribing the kids, but Niall knows they’re only rumors. His team was good, but Louis led an army of clowns that were out for blood, and it ended up being scarier than the prison room. 

It’s fine, and Niall’s come to peace with it. He’s had two months to get over his loss, and he’s had a bit of help. 

Even if his help would rather be anywhere else right now. 

“Not sure why  _ I _ have to be here,” Shawn sighs. It’s his third time complaining in the short hour they’ve been here, but Niall isn’t annoyed. For some reason, he finds himself absolutely endeared. 

“Obviously you weren’t scary enough,” Niall tells him, a sharp grin aimed at Shawn. “This is your punishment too.”

“And you think _you_ were scary?” 

At the flat-toned obvious insult, Niall feels his jaw open the slightest bit. “At least I did something,” he defends himself, coming out alongside a laugh. “You walked in a door.”

“You said I was  _ believable _ ,” Shawn whines, suddenly frowning. Niall laughs at him, leaning forward to kiss his pouting lips. 

After the night of the test run, after  _ losing _ , Niall felt secure in their room that he was ready to see where that kiss would’ve taken them had they not needed to get to work. And it took them straight to each other. Spending three nights working together a week, and two others in Niall’s flat watching terrible movies and getting to know every inch of each other - it’s been wonderful. 

He may have lost the bet, but it feels like he’s won something even better. 

As Niall stands to put a packed box next to the door to be taken back to storage, he sees Louis standing in the doorway, a smug grin on his face. “I won’t lie, lads, this looks terribly boring.” Niall’s lips purse at the haughty tone. “Can’t say I’m jealous.” 

“Why are you here?” 

“Had to pick up my paycheck, didn’t I?” He waves the envelope in the air in front of him, but his eyes stay focused on where Shawn’s watching them from the ground. He’s a box of clown noses in front of him, and it’s all a little ridiculous. “Also wanted to torture you a bit. You just weren’t scary enough, I guess.” 

“People just hate clowns,” Niall finds himself spitting. It’s not completely true, he knows. Louis ran a tight ship, and more often than expected, some of the visitors couldn’t even finish the house house once they hit the clown room. Even so, even knowing Louis won fair and square, Niall just wants to fight. “That’s the only reason you won.” 

“Or it’s because your boyfriend isn’t frightening in the least?” 

Niall looks to Shawn, wanting to be on his side, but Shawn smiles really big, and it’s ridiculous how impossible it is to defend his honor when he’s so damn attractive. Niall can’t help but melt a bit, grinning right back. “You’re damn right he isn’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on:  
> [Twitter](http://twitter.com/sapphicbee) | [Tumblr](http://fourdrunksluts.tumblr.com)
> 
>    
> [5 Weeks of Shiall on Tumblr](http://aceniall.tumblr.com/post/178698138803/5-weeks-of-shiall-by-alienharry-october-3-after)


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